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Human Smuggling

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Overview

The illegal movements of migrants across national borders have become a global issue. Human smuggling is defined as those activities that facilitate illicit crossing of national borders with consent of the individuals smuggled. It is therefore closely connected to international migration as such. The present entry discusses definitions as well as background factors and basic characteristics of the process of smuggling over time. Characteristics of human smugglers and those of smuggled migrants are presented. In addition, the ways in which states respond to the challenges of detecting and dealing with human smuggling are dealt with. The entry closes with a brief discussion of controversies and future directions including the paradox of combating human smuggling and tensions between migration control and crime policies.

Introduction: Human Smuggling and Its Definition

Human smuggling is currently often presented as one of the most profitable criminal activities worldwide. A...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Joanne van der Leun

  2. Department of Criminology, Faculty of Law, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Richard Staring

Authors
  1. Joanne van der Leun
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  2. Richard Staring
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanne van der Leun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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van der Leun, J., Staring, R. (2014). Human Smuggling. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_630

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_630

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

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